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Bernie Sanders Speaks to Supporters in Midtown

By Gwynne Hogan | September 18, 2015 4:04pm
 New Yorkers turned out in droves to hear Bernie Sanders speak at a fundraiser in Midtown on Friday.
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MIDTOWN — Swarms of devoted Bernie Sanders supporters flocked to Midtown Friday afternoon to hear the presidential hopeful call for increased taxes on the rich, free higher education, $15 federal minimum wage, energy and criminal justice reform — in his own words, nothing short of “political revolution.”

With emphatic hand gestures and his classic Brooklyn twang, Sanders gave the crowd the kind of brash and uncompromising rhetoric that they’ve come to expect of him.

“Don’t tell me that in America we cannot guarantee health care to all people in a cost-effective way, don’t tell me that we have to be the only major country on earth that doesn’t provide family and medical leave to its workers,” he said to a crowd roaring his name.

Sanders, a Vermont senator, was once considered a fringe candidate but has surged ahead of Hillary Clinton in Democratic primary polls in New Hampshire and Iowa, in recent weeks

Many of the more than 1,000 supporters who turned up Friday said they had been following the political career of Brooklyn-born Sanders for years and respected his track record on civil rights, LGBTQ issues and climate change.

“I don’t see any other option. Hillary has so much baggage and her position on the issues in many cases remains totally unclear,” said Peter Newburger, a 64-year-old Queens resident. “If Democrats back off from their core beliefs...that’s going to come back to haunt them this time.”

Sanders' message to the middle class America resonated with New Yorkers who’ve felt the pinch of soaring rents and increases in the cost of living.

“It’s harder and harder for middle to lower class people to live here,” said East Village resident Chand Nirankari, 33, a freelance graphic designer. “I don’t want to be pushed out.”

Sanders begged his supporters to “think big not small.”

“Understand that we are not a poor country. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We have extraordinary brainpower we have extraordinary technology,” he said. “When we develop the political will, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”